UNIONS have expressed concern over radical plans to merge key council departments in order to cut costs.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council revealed yesterday that it wants to reduce the number of directorates from six to four and cut 14 senior management jobs.

The proposal is aimed at helping to find £30 million of savings over the next two years to ease budget pressures. Papers leaked to The Sentinel show that the posts being axed would include two directors and 12 heads of department.

The proposals, which are subject to staff, council and trade union consultation, would save the authority an estimated £1,333,000 a year in salaries.

But the savings would also involve the drastic reshaping of many council departments.

Consultation documents reveal that the current housing, environment and neighbourhood services directorate – the largest branch of the council – would be broken up and merged with the adult social care, health and communities division, which oversees care services, sport, libraries and museums.

The current chief executive's directorate would also be dissolved to give chief executive John van de Laarschot greater hands-on control over key areas such as human resources, communications and the ongoing transformational change programme.

A brand new city renewal directorate would be created to encompass regeneration, business development, services such as highways, waste and enforcement, and a new branch called technical services, which would manage aspects such as planning and transport.

The current central services directorate, which oversees financial management, human resources and legal affairs, would become the business services directorate.

The children and young people's services directorate, which only reverted back to council control this year following government intervention, would be largely unaffected by the plans.

In the consultation report, Mr van de Laarschot tells staff that the current council structure is too tied up in bureaucratic red tape to work efficiently.

He said: "The reality is that we are management top-heavy and we need to put our house in order. We need to make radical changes to overcome the problems we face."

Unison's city council branch secretary, Colin Walton, said that union leaders are still assessing the restructure plans, and have yet to hold formal talks with the council. But he is concerned that such a major shake-up will affect vital frontline services and lead to large-scale redundancies.

He said: "We really need to look at whether this restructure is a practical proposition. The main worry for us is that this proposal isn't going to solve the problem. There is also a fear about job numbers."

Labour council leader Mohammed Pervez said: "The restructure proposals minimise the number of layers in the council, removing duplication and wastage while giving greater transparency and accountability."